I finally got the motor mounts burned in. The more I welded the better looking my welds became. Probably should have practiced for a couple days on scrap first. I'm going to cut a groove in the frame where the boxing plate is on each side and run some beads there to ensure full penetration. If you can't weld good, weld a lot.
Plan is to bolt the trans to the empty block and determine transmission crossmember placement. I did some testing already and the transdapt pre-fabbed thing is just barely wide enough to work between the frame rails, but the 2" drop may not be enough. One wrinkle I didn't think about is the mopar 8 3/4 diff has the pinion offset to the passenger side a pretty good bit, and my motor is placed as close to the center line as I could make it. Will have to see what the angle comes out to be. I think the driveshaft will be a good deal longer than the original so that should help.
Anyway, I hope to get all that done this weekend and get the front part of the frame cleaned up and painted. I got some rust encapsulating stuff. Not going to bother with getting it perfect. Get all the loose debris off and brush it on. Should last another 55 years.